Power sources for electronics products are one of the main issues in modern electronics. Portable electronic devices, particularly in consumer electronics (e.g., portable computers, smartphones and tablets), have known a very widespread diffusion. Moreover, electronic devices for industrial, automotive and aerospace applications often require a stand alone power supply in order to ensure a reliable operation. Generally, all these electronic devices rely on battery arrangements as (portable) power sources for receiving a (electric) power required for their operation.
While most of the power sources are based on chemical reaction in order to supply power (e.g., lithium-ion batteries), power sources based on a radioactive decay process of radioactive material, also identified as ‘radioisotope power sources’, have been proposed for supplying power to electronics products.
Such radioisotope power sources are arranged to generate electric power on the basis of energy released by the decaying of the radioactive element comprised in the radioisotope power sources rather than on the basis of chemical reactions between different materials as in common batteries.
Such radioisotope power sources are able to provide power for very long periods of time (e.g., in the order of tens of years), i.e. substantially until the radioactive decay process of the radioactive material is completed, without requiring to be recharged and with a very limited size.
An example of a known radioisotope power source may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 8,634,201 that discloses an assembly carrying a radioisotope power source for attaching to a printed circuit board. The assembly comprises an integrated circuit package carrying an integrated circuit, the integrated circuit package having first contacts on a lower surface thereof, the integrated circuit requiring connection to a power source, a power source package defining a cavity therein for carrying the radioisotope power source, the power source package having second contacts on an upper surface thereof contacting the first contacts and having third contacts on a lower surface thereof for contacting fourth contacts on the printed circuit board, the power source package having conductive vias extending from the second contacts on the upper surface of the power source package to the third contacts on the lower surface of the power source package, one or more of the vias having a fan-in segment, a fan-out segment and a substantially vertical segment therebetween, and electrical signals passing between the integrated circuit and the printed circuit board through the conductive vias and power passing from the radioisotope power source into the integrated circuit through one or more of the substantially vertical segments and the fan out segments.